Background of the workshop

Jan Merks

Institute for Pig Genetics BV

Schoenaker 6, PO Box 43

NL-6640 AA Beuningen

The Netherlands

The Farm Animal Industrial Platform (FAIP) started three years ago. It is a forum of companies, industries all working in farm animal reproduction and selection. The platform is set up because of the interest in research and development. Topics which are of interest to the industry are, for instance, gene mapping, embryo technology, cloning but also the possibilities of transgenic animals. Next to that the platform and the industry represented by FAIP is interested in regulatory aspects related to research. Thus the new patent directive is of very much importance to the industry to make use of their research possibilities in the future. But next to that it is not only the research. It is the whole scope of farm animal reproduction and selection, and aspects related to that. This includes, very importantly, also public perception, consumers attitude and ethical implications of what the industry is doing. These are important to the platform. The list of members incorporates 34 companies -, and we should add one member since two days: NLA, a Norwegian fish breeding company - will give you an indication of the kind of companies involved in farm animal breeding and reproduction, where they are coming from and what kind of aspects they take care of. This is the background of the workshop today. FAIP, interested in the new EU patent directive for biotechnological inventions, bringing you and members of the platform together to have a good discussion on this new directive to go for what is possible in the future. The EC Biotechnology and Demonstration Unit has funded this workshop.